You Are Becoming a Woman…  Act Like a Lady; You Are Becoming a Man… Act like a Gentleman.

by Leette Eaton White  

Last week held a lot of controversy for contestant Leiomy and Judge Lil Mama. Both are controversial figures. Many fans of the show have said since season one that Lil Mama should not be a judge on the show and there is plenty to back that up. Her lack of speaking skills, age, and sometimes even her manner are usually the reasons for fans having such strong displeasure with her place of authority on the show. Leiomy a transgendered woman from New York City and member of the all gay Vogue Evolution was having more issues than just her sexuality on the show. One week was marred by a consistently bad attitude that went so far as to walk out of rehearsals. At least that is what MTV showed.

Surprisingly MTV /ABDC producers who seem to love the proverbial sob story on ABDC never mentioned that Leiomy was suffering the loss of dear friend that week which in part lead to her erratic, anger and grief driven behavior. In leaving this out of editing Leiomy appeared to be nothing more than a selfish brat and Lil Mama (it is unknown if Lil Mama knew of the recent loss) went after her for it. Airing on last week’s Sunday episode Lil Mama said “Leiomy, your behavior… come on; it’s unacceptable. I just feel that you always have to remember your truth, you were born a man and you are becoming a woman, if you’re gonna become a woman act like a lady. Don’t be a bird like ‘OMG I’m not doing this’….” Leiomy’s reaction on stage was an eye roll. Now my condolences go to Leiomy and her friend’s family. But she does seem to need an attitude adjustment.

She certainly was not proving Lil Mama wrong which such a display of disrespect. Now I am no advocate of Lil Mama’s but the insanity that ensued afterward was absolutely ridiculous. Lil Mama was subject to cruel mocking by some ABDC fans including being called homophobic and was even being reported to GLAAD. At which point she felt the need to release a statement saying this. “I would like to clarify anything that was misunderstood from Sunday’s show … My remarks were never meant to be disrespectful regarding Leiomy’s gender nor offensive to the LGBT community, which has been a community that has supported me in all my endeavors. However, in hindsight, I recognize that my words may have come across as hurtful. I spoke with her privately after the taping to express that it was not my intent to offend her or any member of the transgender community and that I still live for Vogue Evolution.”

The intimidation put on Lil Mama by fans and a small fraction of the LGBT community was flat out unnecessary. While her comments were off color they were not cruel or demeaning, they were…. Joe Bidenesque….. made with little thought but not harmful. (Frankly the Vice President is more likely to cause more damage with his big mouth than Lil Mama ever could) We shouldn’t demonize speech when it is not evil. Lil Mama is young woman with a lot to learn and one thing she needs to remember is that ladies think before they speak.

Since we are on the subject of propriety I have to speak about one of my Three to Beat. I like my crews to have a least a little lady like and gentlemen like behavior. Afroborike has been proving themselves to be a decent crew with amazing lifts… I like to call them the lift masters. That said their performance this week would have been very good if not for one part which was exceedingly dirty. So much so I nearly gagged. It is fine to have fun and be sensual, be sexy, hey even to make fun of sex on the dance floor, but to seriously simulate a graphic sex act on a primetime show that targets teens and young adults (and that many children watch BTW) just shows a lack of taste. Shane may have liked the onstage oral sex simulation with the girls of Afroborkie being held up from the floor by the back of the necks by their male teammates but my aunt and I were aghast at the display.

Believe me I have no problem with displays of sexuality, I don’t even mind crews toeing the line with innuendo and suggestion or tomfoolery as last season’s Quest displayed with their Forever performance last spring. But I truly felt Afroborike went over the line with Sunday night’s performance and it ruined a good performance for me. Vogue Evolution went up against We Are Heroes in the bottom two. VE gave a throwaway performance to “Halle Berry” while We Are Heroes smashed it with the best performance of the night to “Stanky Leg” and the judges sent the Voguers home. It was We Are Heroes’ second time in the bottom two. Considering history and the great performances by Massive Monkees and Rhythm City it’s hard to believe they will be able to skirt out of being in the bottom again. I wonder if the judges will save them for a third time in row (like they did for Fly Khicks last season).

Massive Monkees gave a great performance, even using a prop fire extinguisher to enhance their dance to “Do the Ricky Bobby” and it worked very well. I really love these guys! (the fangurl in me was going to explode if I didn’t say that) Rhythm City was given the jerk as their dance craze challenge, dancing of course to… “You’re a Jerk”. While crew member Ashley had never seen the jerk she and the rest of the crew pulled off a high energy, “sneakily athletic” (according to judge and former N’Sync member JC), and storytelling performance. They did both the new school and old school jerk. My aunt and I agree the old school is better and judging from the performance I bet Rhythm City thinks so too which may be why they put it in there.

So my top contenders remain at the top in votes, and we’ll see who will get voted out next week. Here’s to hoping the BX lover or fangurl in me is not devastated next week. It’s coming down to the wire and next week will reveal America’s top three. See ya then. Remember you can always watch ABDC on MTV Sunday nights at 9pm Eastern time or anytime at www.mtv.com

Leette is a native New Yorker and a full time student studying Forensic Psychology. She has been a Conservative Republican since 2002, finding her Republican roots at the age of 15. HipHopRepublican opened the gateway for her to start her political activism in urban areas and across the net.Contact – Leette4hhr@gmail.com